The Martinsville-Henry County SPCA is running about $50,000 behind on its fund drive, and unless it reaches its $240,000 goal, it will have to scale back operations.

That’s according to Leslie Hervey, executive director of the SPCA.

“Normally it (the fund drive) would be at about $200,000” now, but as of Tuesday, it was at about $150,000, Hervey said.

At first she thought people were waiting until after the election to donate, but now she thinks people are waiting because of economic uncertainties over the federal “fiscal cliff,” she said. Hervey was referring to the automatic spending cuts that will occur if no federal budget agreement is reached before the end of the year.

The annual fund drive, called Dollars for Dogs/Cash for Kittens Campaign, runs from September through December. The campaign included letter writing.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013, the SPCA budgeted a total of about $620,000 in revenues, including $240,000 from the annual appeal (fund drive), about $50,000 in memberships, $38,000 in memorials, $10,000 in contributions to a fund that pays medical expenses for sick animals that come to the SPCA, $30,000 in adoption fees, $15,000 from the city of Martinsville and $7,468 from Henry County.

Other budgeted revenues include $75,000 from donated items sold at Fido’s Finds and Kittie’s Kollectibles, $65,000 in pet-related supplies and items sold at the gift shop at the SPCA, $50,000 in fundraising special events and $40,000 in investment/savings income, Hervey said.

“There’s not a rainy-day fund,” she said.

If the SPCA does not reach its $240,000 goal, it will have to cut back operations, such as serving fewer animals or cutting back staff, Hervey said. The SPCA has eight full-time and four part-time employees.

The SPCA is on track to shelter a total of 2,200 dogs and cats during 2012. In addition, it expects to serve 2,000 animals not housed at the shelter through its low-cost spay/neuter program, Hervey said.

She noted it costs the SPCA about $250 to get an animal ready for adoption, including time in the shelter, medical care, vaccines, spaying and neutering, de-worming, micro-chipping, etc. But the SPCA’s adoption fees, which are determined by what the market will bear, range from $25 or so to about $160 on average, which means the SPCA takes a loss, Hervey said.

The SPCA also offers humane education for second-graders in city and county schools, pet therapy at long-term-care facilities in the county and city, and animal rescue services, Hervey said.

For more information, call the SPCA at 638-7297. To make a tax-deductible donation, go to the SPCA; mail to 132 Joseph Martin Highway, Martinsville, Va. 24112; or go the SPCA’s website at www.spcamhc.org.